Japan Gaming Guide

The latest update for the 360 dashboard is expected to roll out sometime today. The update brings with it some nice features. Firstly, a wider range of video formats will be supported. This means you’ll be able to view a wider selection of the movies stored on your PC – at present the choice is pretty limited.

Secondly, downloadable Xbox games are coming! Available games include Halo 2, Psychonauts and Fable. Each one will cost 1200 MS points – pretty good value.

Thirdly, one of users major gripes will be (half) fixed. The demos of Xbox live arcade games will no longer show up on your games played list, however games already listed will not be removed.

Lastly, the dreaded parental controls will make their debut, leading to misery for teenage gamers everywhere – best hope Mum & Dad don’t find them.

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An update to Bioshock is on the way, along with some downloadable content. The widescreen display issue will be fixed, and there’ll be some new plasmids to play with. Maybe now’s the time to give hard mode a try.

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A new Ghostbusters game is in the works! Set for release next year to coincide with the new movie, Ghostbusters the game casts the player as a new Ghostbuster as New York is overrun by creepy ghouls. Multiple versions of the game are on the way with Nocturne developer Terminal Reality taking care of the PS3, 360 and PC versions and Red Fly Studios handling the Wii and DS.

Ghostbusters is one of our favourite movies, the old 8-bit game was something of a classic too, so here’s hoping the update is just as good.

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Ninja Gaiden was one of the defining games for the Xbox, so we’re pretty excited about Ninja Gaiden 2. 1up got a good look at the game recently, and an interview with Team Ninja’s Tomonobu Itagaki. It sounds like it’s coming along nicely, with all new moves, new characters and some interesting online possibilities. The graphics feel like a generational leap, something that isn’t conveyed by still screens but becomes apparent when seeing the game in motion.

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Wings of the Goddess, the Final Fantasy XI expansion, goes live on November 22nd. Here’s the trailer:

The DivX video codec is coming to the PS3 soon, and may well arrive on the 360 in the near future. This means you’ll be able to stream more of your videos from your PC to your console.

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We really like Lego here at JGG. It’s only the harsh financial realities of the world that stop us from building our entire homes out of the fantastic bricks and living there chuckling evilly to ourselves. We liked Lego Star Wars too, and are pretty chuffed about this Lego Batman game that’s coming out.
Edit: Trailer is no longer there, sadly!
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Lucky Xbox live users are getting a couple of freebies soon. For 24 hours, Carcassonne will be free to download. Logon from midnight PST on November 15th to get it. Long time users of the service will get an extra gift – 500 Microsoft points. As if that wasn’t enough, a load of Xbox games will be made available for download. The games confirmed so far include Halo, Psychonauts, Fable, Crimson Skies, Crash Bandicoot, Burnout 3 and Fuzion Frenzy. These will go for a mere 1200 Microsoft points each.

That’s a great line up of titles, including some big sellers and the criminally overlooked classic, Psychonauts. Other titles will follow, including another classic, Fareinheit. If you didn’t have enough games on your Christmas list, you should now.

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An ultra limited special edition ofThe Idolmaster is to be released exclusively in Japan. The special edition includes a DVD and a doll with a detachable set of cat ears. All this goes for a mere Y26,040. Only 3000 units will be produced, and will surely sell out in minutes. If you see any sweaty, middle aged men wearing these things, run.

[Read, via Kotaku]

Younger gamers beware. In a bid to make the console more family friendly, Microsoft are introducing a parental timer system to the Xbox 360. Meddlesome Mothers will be able to set the console to shut down automatically after being used for a set amount of time. Daily and weekly timers will be available, no doubt causing tantrums and tears throughout the world.